Sabriel is an excellent role model, someone who does what is right, not what is easy. It is dark fantasy, dealing with death, dead things that won't stay dead, coming of age, responsibility, loss, and blossoming sexuality (very light).

An excellent read I revisit fairly often. Read this book when I was a middle schooler (learned lots of new vocabulary words seldom used elsewhere). I certainly would not quibble with the concept of a sequel- In fact, for a book this good, I can only hope that at some point Nix returns and writes a sequel- either about Sabriel or about one of the Abhorsens before her maybe the story of her father or the woman who built the paperwings. The tension is nicely played out, the book climaxes nicely, and the end is resolved fairly satisfactorially. On the other you have a place where magic still thrives, and the great charters rule the land. Better still was his world- on one side, a person might have a life much like ours. Okay- anyway, I found Nix's characters to be richly portrayed, human, rational, and logical. I have, on occassion, run into those few and far between writers whose opposite sex characters behave nothing like real people, and have always regretted the experience.

She has her reasons for doing what she does, and Gareth Nix does an exceptional job of writing within the female Psyche. Don't get me wrong there's nothing elemental about Sabriel. It is almost a relief to 'meet' a character with such basic reasons. She loves Touchstone, hates the evil that has invaded the Kingdom, treasures her father, respects Mogget.

Yet staunchness does not make the character Sabriel's basic humanity is what lets her reach out and touch you from within her paper world. Sabriel is entirely human- a young woman who has her own goals, her own life, and who manages to uphold her values without ever giving in. All too often the tough girl stance gets taken a little too far. But sometimes you get that feeling that they lack- well- heart. Don't get me wrong- I love books with female heroines. Sadly, these characters all too often have nothing better to do with their time than to wander around playing hero.

We've all read stories starring the tough girl, out to kick the world head over tail kind of character.

Abhorsen trilogy